In order to provide flexible work environments, many employers and associated information technology (IT) departments are providing remote network access to employees. In addition, the employers often allow employees to connect their personal computing devices to the company's network and access network resources. However, when an employee leaves a company or loses a computing device, the company may want to terminate access for the computing device to the company network and resources provided by the company network. Conventional methods of terminating access to the computing device are overly restrictive and destructive of personal data on the computing device.
As an example, a commercial product may provide mobile device management (MDM) for enterprises. An employee of an employer utilizing the commercial product for MDM of a personal mobile computing device may accidentally leave the mobile computing device on an airplane. In another situation, the employee may accept a new position with another employer. This mobile computing device may have personal data including personal photographs, videos, email, and applications and employer related data including emails, applications, and documents containing confidential employer information. The mobile computing device also may provide access to employer networks.
Conventionally, based on current limitations and/or security policies, the IT department of the employer may have no choice but to remotely delete/wipe all data from the mobile computing device and/or perform a factory reset of the mobile computing device. In another case, the employer may remotely lock the mobile computing device. While this provides security for the employer, this presents challenges for the employee. The employee or former employee may not have access to the personal mobile computing device. In other situations, in the event that the employee does not backup the personal data on the personal mobile computing device, the employee or former employee may lose the personal data. The IT department of the employer may also have to disable access to an employer related application for all employees.